FactCheck: McCain rejected alternatives 11 times, not 23

We found that only 11 of those votes would have reduced or eliminated subsidies or tax incentives for alternative energy.
The rest were votes McCain cast against the mandatory use of alternative energy, or votes in favor of allowing exemptions from such mandates.

Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 second presidential debate
Oct 7, 2008

FactCheck: Both McCain & Obama plans kill oil tax loopholes

FACT CHECK: McCain’s plan entails cutting the overall corporate tax rate and does not represent a special $4 billion in tax breaks for the oil companies.
Both Obama and McCain have proposed plans that eliminate tax loopholes for oil and gas companies, according to the Associated Press.

Rebate checks instead of gas tax holiday

Q: You were opposed to Sen. Clinton’s plan for a gas tax holiday, the same one Sen. McCain proposes. Are you proposing any short term relief for this current gas crisis?

A: I meet Americans every day who are really hard hit. So absolutely,
I want to make sure that tax stimulus package proposed that would follow up the initial rebate check with another one if you had three consecutive months of unemployment. That gets out to people right away. And in fact, we have a better chance of getting
that done than the proposal that John McCain and Hillary Clinton have put forward, but understand this: the idea of a gas tax holiday is a phony approach. It is a gimmick. We saw this tried in a number of other states including my home state of Illinois.
And what happens is, at best, you’re seeing pennies over 90 days, but more typically what happens is the oil companies just jack up prices by the same amount as the gas tax was as it’s suspended, so consumers don’t see the savings.

Gas tax holiday is a classic Washington gimmick

Q: One issue that has really defined the two campaigns here in Indiana is this debate over gasoline: he price of it and whether there should be a tax holiday from the federal taxes. Hillary Clinton’s ad says, “Gas prices are skyrocketing, and she’s ready
to act again. Hillary’s plan, use the windfall profits of the oil companies to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer. Barack Obama says no, again.” Why are you against it?

A: You’re right; this defines the difference between myself and Senator Clinton
This gas tax, which was first proposed by John McCain and then quickly adopted by Senator Clinton, is a classic Washington gimmick. It is a political response to a serious problem that we have neglected for decades. Here’s the upshot.
You’re looking at suspending a gas tax for three months. The average driver would save 30 cents per day for a grand total of $28. That’s assuming that the oil companies don’t step in and raise prices by the same amount that the tax has been reduced.

Source: Meet the Press: 2008 “Meet the Candidates” series
May 4, 2008

FactCheck: Self-contradictory on Bush’s clean-energy plan

Obama contradicted himself, saying the Bush administration had done nothing serious about alternative fuels or raising fuel efficiency. Obama said, “We have not seen any serious effort on the part of this administration to spur on the use of alternative
fuels, raise fuel efficiency standards on cars.”

If the 2005 energy bill signed by President Bush was indeed the “single largest investment in clean energy” ever seen, as Obama says, then it’s hard to see how his administration can be faulted for lack
of “any serious effort” to promote alternative fuels. Furthermore, another bill Bush signed in December sets a national fuel economy standard of 35 mpg by 2020, the first major increase in vehicle fuel efficiency standards in more than three decades.

It is certainly true that more could be done, and Obama would be within his rights to say that Bush’s efforts aren’t serious enough to suit him. But claiming a lack of any serious effort at all is contradicted by the record and by Obama’s own words.

Cheney met environmentalists once; but Big Oil 40 times

The reason [our energy policy] doesn’t change--you can take a look at how Dick Cheney did his energy policy. He met with environmental groups once. He met with renewable energy folks once. And then he met with oil and gas companies 40 times.
And that’s how they put together our energy policy. We’ve got to put the national interests ahead of special interests, and that’s what I’ll do as president of the United States.

Voted for failed IL gas tax holiday & learned from mistake

Q: Would a gas tax holiday cause oil companies to raise prices?

A: I have some experience on this because in Illinois we tried this when I was in the state legislature, and that’s exactly what happened. The oil companies, the retailers were the ones wh
ended up benefiting.

Q: But you voted for it.

A: I did.

Q: When gas was only $2 a gallon.

A: I voted for it, and then six months later we took a look, and consumers had not benefited at all, but [the state] had lost revenue.

Q: So you learned
from a wrong vote.

A: Yeah, I learned from a mistake. And, in addition, this would come out of the Federal Highway Fund that we use to rebuild our roads and our bridges. Now, Sen. Clinton says that she’s going to use the windfall profits tax to fill
it, but she’s already said that she’s going to use the windfall profits tax to invest in clean energy. More importantly, nobody thinks that George Bush is actually going to sign a law for windfall profits taxes, so that’s not going to happen this summer.

Source: Meet the Press: 2008 “Meet the Candidates” series
May 4, 2008

Sponsored legislations that improve energy efficiency

Obama co-sponsored a Renewable Portfolio Standard that mandates ten percent of total electric utility output must be renewable by 2012. He sponsored the Biodiesel Fuel Act to require diesel fuel sold in Illinois to contain at least two percent biodiesel
fuel by volume. He was chief co-sponsor of the Energy Efficiency Building Act and the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards Act, which aim to improve energy efficiency in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings and in certain household products.